Article collecting machine



April 18,1933. c. T. BRA REN 1,904,613

ARTICLE COLLECTING MACHINE I I 5 Filed Dec. 11, 1930 4 Shee'ts-Sheet 1INVENTOR 44 ATTORNEYS c. T. BRAREN 1,904,613 ARTICLE COLTLE'CTIQG-MACHINE April 18, 1933.

Fiied Dec. 11; 1930 -4 Shgets-She et 2 INVENTOR 1Q, ATTORNEYS I April1933- c. T. BRAREN 1,904,613

ARTICLE COLLECTING MACHINE 9 -30 L 6* A. g

INVENTOR W [in/1M MM ATTORNEYS April 3, c. T. BRAREN ARTICLE COLLECTINGMACHINE Filed Dec. 11, 1930 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTOR M, five ATTORPatented Apr. 18, 1933 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CORNELIUS T. BRAREN,OF JAMAICA, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, '7

TO STANDARD-KNAPP CORPORATION, OF NEW YORK ARTICLE COLLECTING MACHINEApplication filed December 11, 1930. I Serial No. 501,512.

This invention relates to article-collectors of the kind employed forgathering together a plurality of articles from a number of differentsources and assembling them in rows or groups of equal number fordelivery to a packaging machine or the like.

Packaging machines are now employed to a.

considerable extent for packaging a plurality of small articles, such,for example, as bars of soap, packages of cereal and the like, in largecartons holding a dozen or more of the smaller articles. capable ofoperation at ahighcr speed than a machine which performs the finaloperation on the articles to be packaged, for example, a soap-wrappingmachine, if soap is the article to be packaged. Hence it is customary todeliver the product of a number of wrapping machines to a singlepackaging machine. The delivery of wrapped articles from the wrappingmachine'is not always continuous. The machines have to be shut downoccasionally for adjustment, and if the Wrapping operation is not alwaysperfect there will be gaps in the line of delivered articles where theinspectors have removed articles which do not come up to specification.

The mechanism of the present application is designed to handle bars ofsoap from a soap-wrapping machine and deliver the bars of soap in rowscontaining always a predetermined number of bars, irrespective of theoperation of the several soap-wrapping machines from which the bars arecollected.

The primary object of the invention is to provide a machine of thischaracter which is entirely automatic in its operation, whlch is ofcompact design, and occupies but little floor space, which is positivein its operation, but will nevertheless handle the soap or other.articles without danger of injury to its wrappers or otherwise. v

In the accompanying drawings we have illustrated a preferred embodimentof our invention designed primarily for collecting wrapped bars of soapfrom four wrapping machines and delivering the bars in rows of threeeach to the feed belt of the packing machine. The machine-selected forillustration has been used with marked success in Such machines areusually actual practice, and is shown and described in detail.

In the said drawings,

Figure 1 is a plan view of our improved soap collector;

Fig. 2 is a transverse section on line 2-2 of Fig. 1; I

Fig. 3 is a section at right angles to Fig. 2 on line 33 of Fig. 1; i

Fig. 4 is a vertical section on line 4-4 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a horizontal section on line 5-5 of Fig. 4:;

Fig. 6 is a vertical section on line 6-6 of Fig. 1; and

Fi s. 7-10 inclusive are detail views similar to Fig. 6 but showing theparts in different positions of operation.

Referring to the drawin'gs, particularly to Figs. 1, 2 and 3, themachine comprises a. suitable frame composed of vertical posts 1 onwhich are supported near thetop a pair of transverse members 2. Beltpulleys 3 and 4 are j ournaled in the side members 2 at each endthereof, as shown particularly in Figs. 1 and 3, and passing over thesepulleys is a continuous belt conveyor 5 wide enough to receive four rowsof soap bars with ample space between them. The belt 5 is continuouslydriven from a suitable driving motor 6 mountedin the lower part of the"frame and operating through reducing gearing 7 and a sprocket wheel 8 todrive the pulley 4 continuously. The bars of soap are supplied to thebelt 5 in four separate rows, as indicated at 9, 10, 11 and 12,respectively, Fig. 1. each row being advanced onto the belt 5 throughfixed side guides 13 which maintain the bars of soap against lateraldisplacement.

The bars of soap may be advanced onto the belt by any. suitable means,for example, the separate delivery conveyors indicated diagrammaticallyat 14 in Figs. land 3, such conveyors operating independently of thearticle collector, and each serving to deliver soap independently to thebelt 5, across an intervenin bridge piece 14a.

a Mounte over the belt 5 at the end adjacent'the bridge piece 14a are aseries of grouping devices which operate to maintain loo 1 the soapagainst movement with the belt vanced into the machine by the conveyor14..

- The four grouping mechanisms are all operated from a common shaft 15extending transversely across the machine frame above the belt 5 andcontinuously driven through suitable gears and a sprocket chain 16 fromthe driving motor.

Attached to the shaft 15 at spaced intervals and over each pair of sideguides 13 are a pair of cams 17 and 18. These cams and the appurtenantdevices are identical for each of the four grouping devices, andalthough the cams operate continuously they are effective to separatethe articles into groups only when three articles have been brought intoa row beneath the shaft 15 by the feed belt, as will be later described.

The grouping mechanism operated by the cams to control the incomingarticles is supported on a fixed shaft 19 extending across the machinebeneath and in parallelism with the shaft 15. Mounted on this fixedshaft beneath the cams is a bell crank 20 whose horizontal arm isprovided with a clamping shoe 21 overlying the bridge piece 14a andadapted to engage and hold the bar of soap on the bridge piece 14a whenthe arm is in its lower- I most osition and to be elevated periodicallythere rom by the cam .17 which engages a suitable cam roller on theupwardly inclined arm 22 of the bell crank.

A light spring 23 working between a rod 24 extending across the machinealongside the camshaft and a pin 25 projecting from the hub of the bellcrank, serve to hold the roller in contact with the cam and to press theshoe 21 lightly against the articles when the cam and the latchingmechanism, which will be later described, permit.

Also mounted on the shaft 19 and alongside the bell crank 20 is a rockarm 26 which is normally held in horizontal position and I to the underside of the cross bar 27 and the width ofthis guide plate plus thelength of the shoe 21 equals substantially the length of three bars ofsoap arranged end to end in the direction in which they come from theconveyor belts 14.

Pivoted at the free end of the rock arm 26 is a stop 30 projectingdownwardly into position to be engaged by the end of the advancing cakeof soap. This stop 30 is ivoted at the end of the arm so as to have a sight rocking movement and is normally held with its soap-engaging facein a vertical plane by an adjustable counterweight 31 whose weight isselected with respect to the force exerted by the incoming row ofarticles so as to be elevated by the pressure exerted by three cakes ofsoap, but not to beafi'ected by the pressure of two cakes. At the freeend of the arm 26 alongside the stop member 30'is pivoted latch 32 whosehooked end is adapted toengage over a projection 33 on the end of alever 34 pivotally mounted at 35 on the rock arm 26 nearits hub. Thelever 34 .is provided with a cam roller 36 working against the cam 18'and a .light spring 37 serves to hold the roller in engagement with thecam.

Fig. 4 shows the grouping mechanism looking in the direction of thearrow 44 in Fig.

As shown in Fig. 6, the parts are set to receive the first cake of soapdelivered onto the belt 5 and movingforward therewith. In this positionthe rock arm 26 is resting on the cross bar 27 and the pivoted stopmember 30 is held down in vertical position by its counterweight 31. Thelatch members 32 and 33 are free and the lever 34 is free to rock on itspivot35 under the influence of the cam 18. The pressure of the soapagainst the stop 30 is insuflicient to lift the counter weight 31 andconsequently the bar of soap will remain against the stop 30 with thebelt 5 slipping thereunder. Therock arm 26 is also free to be operatedby its cam 17 and it will be raised and lowered on each rotation of theshaft 15'. I

Fig. 6 shows the shoe 21 elevated by the cam, while Fig. 7 shows itdepressed into horizontal position. In this position the end of the nextincoming cake of soap will engage the shoe 21 and be held againstfurther advance until the shoe is elevated by the further rotation ofthe cam 17, when the cake will be released and be carried forwardagainst'the first cake of soap held by the stop 30. The pressure of thetwo cakes ofsoap is insufiicient to lift the counterweight 31, and theywill be held b the stop until a third cake is brought into t e machine.The

pressure of the three cakes of soap is sufiicient to .tilt the stop 30,as shown in Fig. 8, thus bringing the latch member 32 over theprojection 33 so that when the arm 34 is next rocked by the cam 18 therock arm 26 will be elevated with the lever 34, thereby releasing thethree articles held by the stop and permitting them to advance with thebelt 5 from beneath the guide 27a.

The position of the parts after the latch is engaged is illustrated inFig. 8 and the position of the arts with the stop elevated isillustrated in ig. 9. The cams 17 and 18 are so positioned that the armand shoe 21 will be lowered to rest upon the top of the incoming takesof soap just as the fourth cake in line reaches the bridge plate 14a,thereby stopping the further advance of the cakes of soap until the armis again elevated by the continued rotation of the cam 17. It will beunderstood that the stop 30 will not be released by the pressure of thecakes of soap unless there is a fourth cake on the belt 14. That is tosay, when the stop is down in the position shown in Figs. 6 and Y itwill not be shifted to the position shown in Fig. 8 by the pressure oftwo cakes and as the third cake rests wholly on the bridge 14a, therewill be no additional pressure upon the stop 30 until the fourth cakeunder the influence of the belt 14 engages the third cake in the mannershown in Fig. 8.

Should there be a gap in the line of incoming cakes after the fourthcake the apparatus will function to deliver three of those cakes andhold the fourth cake until the belt 14 brings up another line of cakesto make up further groups. The movement of the fourth cake through theaction of the belt 14 will advance the third cake off the bridgepiece14a onto the belt 5 so that it will move forward with the other twocakes.

The fourth cake in the row will not follow the three cakes, but will beheld by the shoe 21 until the stop 30 is again in position to be engagedby the advancing cakes. The speed of the belt 5 is of course sodetermined with respect to the peripheral speed of the cams that thethree cakes released by the stop 30 will be moved beyond the stop whilethe latter is held in elevated position by the cam.

The latch 32 is separately pivoted with respect to the stop 30 on thearm 26 to facilitate its engagement and disengagement. Fig.

10 shows the operation of disengaging the latch. As the cam 18 in thecourse of its revolution allows the arm 34 to descend the arm 26 will ofcourse move down with it,

under the influence of spring 28, until the.

arm 26 engages the stop 27 which will occur just before the roller onarm 34 reaches the low point on cam 18. Continued rotation of the cam 18causes a slight further descent of the arm 34, as indicated in dottedlines in Fig. 10, thus causing the tooth 33 to be released from thepivoted dog 32, whereupon the spring 32a will withdraw the dog so thatelevation of the stops 30 in the manner. described, they will be carriedforward by the belt 5 until the foremost of the three engages a stop 40suitably supported on brackets 41 attached to the posts 1 of the frameat the opposite sides of themachine and overhanging the belt 5 inposition to be engaged by the advancing soap bars from all of thegrouping devices.

The bars of soap thus arranged in rows of three are removed from thebelt 5 by an overhanging conveyor comprising a pair of sprocket chains42 carried by continuously driven sprocket wheels 43 and 43a mounted oncross shafts 44, 44a, respectively, suitably supported in the machineframe above and at right angles to the pulleys 3 and 4 of the belt 5.Attached -to the chains 42 are flights 45 adapted in their passageacross the belt 5' to engage the rows of soap bars held by the stopmember 40 and shift them transversely off the belt 5 and onto a deliveryconveyor 46 by which the bars of soap may be conveyed to the-packagingmachine in rows of three, thereby insuring that the desired number ofbars of soap will be put in each carton.

It will be understood that the cam shaft 15 is so timed in its rotationwith the driving shaft 43 and conveyor chains 42 that the flights 45will not be opposite thecams, that is, will not be passing the spacebetween any two adjacent side guides 13 during the interval that thestop 30 is elevated by the cam 18, thereby not interfering with themovement of the soap bars to their positions in collector as designedprimarily for use in as-' sembling bars of soap, but it will beunderstood that the same mechanism may be readily adapted for handlingarticles of all kinds and may be used wherever it is desired to collectarticles from a number of separate sources and forward them in orderlyarrangement to a common'point.

What I claim is:

1. In an article collecting machine, the combination of means foradvancing a succession of articles, a stop extending into the path ofsaid articles, means controlled by articles and operating when apredetermined number of articles are held by said stop to release saidstop and allow the accumulated articles to advance as a group, and asecond stop adapted to engage the article following said group 'untilsaid first mentioned stop is returned to position to intercept thearticles.

2. In an article collecting machine, means for advancing a succession ofarticles and means for separating said articles into groups comprising astop mounted for movement into and out of the .path of said articles, anactuating member for said stop, means for positively reciprocating saidmember in a path paralleling the path of movement of said stop and meansfor connecting said stop to said member when a predetermined number ofarticles have accumulated against said stop. I

3. In an article collecting machine means for advancing a succession ofarticles and means for separating said articles into groups 'comprislnga stop mounted for movement actuating member for said stop, means forpositively reciprocating said member in a path parallelling the path ofmovement of said stop and means in the path of movement of said articleand actuated by said article to connect said stop to said member when apredetermined number of articles have accumulated against said stop, andto disconnect said stop and member when the accumulated articles havebeen carried past said stop.

5. In an article collecting machine, a feed belt for advancing thearticles and a stop mechanism for dividing the articles into groupscomprising an arm movably mounted adjacent said belt, a stopmovablymounted on said arm in position to be engaged by the articles advancedby said belt when said arm is in its lowermost position, yielding meansfor holding said stop against the pressure of the articles advancedbysaid belt, said means being adjusted to yield under the pressure of apredetermined number of articles, and means controlled by the movementof said stop for shifting said arm to withdraw the stop from the pathofmovement of said articles.

6. In an article collecting machine, a feed belt for advancing thearticles and a stop mechanism for dividing the articles into groupscomprising an arm mounted for oscil-- lation above said belt, a stopmovably mounted on said arm in position to be engaged by the articlesadvanced by said belt when said arm is in its lowermost position,yielding means for holding said stop against the pressure of thearticles advanced by said belt, said means being adjusted to-yield underthe pres-v sure of a predetermined number of articles,

.said belt and comprising two spaced stops movable into and out ofengagement with the articles onsaid belt, and means for operating saidstops in timed relation to separate said articles into groups containinga predetermined number of articles as said articles pass said escapementmechanism, said means comprising an article-controlled trip forconnecting said stop to its operating means when saidpredetermin'ednumber of articles has accumulated adjacent said stop.

8. In an article collecting machine a belt for continuously advancingarticles, and an escapement v mechanism mounted adjacent said belt andcomprising two spaced stops movable into and out of engagement with thearticles on said belt, and means comprising an article-controlled tripfor connecting one of said stops to its operating means when apredetermined number of articles have accumulated adjacent said stop.

9. In an article collecting machinea belt for continuously advancingarticles and an escapemcnt mechanism mounted adjacent said belt andcomprising two spaced stops movable into and outof engagement With thearticles on said belt, means for operating said stops in timed relationto separate said articles into groups containing a predetermined numberof articles as said articles pass said esoapement mechanism, said meanscomprising an article-controlled trip for connecting said stop to itsoperating means when said predeterminednumber of articles hasaccumulated adjacent said stop, and means beyond said escapement andoperating in timed relation therewith for moving said groups of articlestransversely off of said belt.

In testimony whereof I aifix my signature.

CORNELIUS T. BBAREN.

Ill

